The present invention is in the technical field of consumer medical medication dispensers and related systems. More particularly, the present invention is in the technical field of medication dispenser systems with improved efficiency and safety features.
The proper handling of medication is a significant concern in today's society. Clearly, the use of medication in various medical treatments will help individuals enjoy an improved quality of life, and has contributed to increased life expectancies. Misuse of drugs can created severe consequences, including death from overdose.
Medication dispensers often have issues or complications with both security and usability. In addition, very few extend their feature set to be enabled to store timing of events and allow that data to be transferred to the internet or remote server. Additional security features to prevent tampering of medications, undesired access and misuse are a welcome addition to any pillbox.
Medication dispensers can be connected to remote servers allowing data (e.g. time when taken, missed medications, relevant statistics) and notifications (e.g. text, emails, phone calls) to be sent to interested parties (e.g. family caregivers, home health care, hospitals, insurance agencies, pharmacies, pharmacy benefit managers). However ownership and the privacy of this data has not been addressed adequately in the prior art. In addition, laws like HIPAA specify certain restrictions in how protected health information (PHI) is sent to covered entities. User interfaces are also difficult to navigate with current medication dispensers and a robust model of replaceable cassettes has yet to be implemented.